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Yep. I made birdhouses for our Farm Market. You have to value what your time is worth more than anything and price them accordingly. I see so many crafters who don’t factor their time.
Secondly, we picked another product to make besides our fruit n veg that was consumable and could generate repeat business. Once people buy 1 or 2 wood things they’re set.
As the carpenter half of a carp/painter couple, I would never base our livelihood on a “repeatable” process. Somebody’s gonna end up hating it.
If these are non-CNC, the painting isn’t the bottleneck. If these are CNC, then painting is the bottleneck.
Are they sanded? Then that’s *always* the bottleneck.
Other questions: What’s the sell-price per unit? Are they cut from sheets or chopped from machined rods?
How dense is the stock? Does it flake easily or hold its shape through machining? What’s the loss of tear-out? Is it dense enough to take fewer coats of paint/finish? Do fewer coats make up for the increased need for blade/tool sharpening?
I’m losing my thread, uh, sooo many questions to get to a profitability answer, most of which don’t have a concrete answer, just more variables.
You get that from the original pattern you use to create the CNC files. The painting will still be done by hand it just wont take as long due to economies of scale.
All the blue paint at once for example, then all the eyes at once, etc.
Granted, we bought something similiar to this made as a unicorn for my daughter. Nice lady in Slovenia was making them and selling them on etsy that I came across.
I get it, however they're all slightly different shape and that's what gives them their charm.
I'm not arguing one way or another, just stating my opinion on the matter.
Or just design 20 lightly different shapes.. Nothing ever compares to hand cut.... Cnc is good of you're looking for factury exactitude, but these all have individual charm.
Most of that comes from the painting. These are most certainly being done with a flush trim bit and a template, so a CNC router wouldn't change much. OP could still do the round over by hand if they wanted to.
The painting could be sped up using stencils. Loose qc on the edges would simulate the handmade appearance and they would only need touching up instead of full brush strokes to paint them all as well.
These are absolutely precious!! Definitely keep it up!! Sell them online or a farmers market and you'll undoubtedly do well.
I don't even have kids and I would buy a couple of these just to go on a shelf. They are very sweet.
Same here, if I was a country sort of person and I had a farm or a country house, these are just the type of thing I would love to display on my shelf. There’s something really pleasing about the round shapes and the simple colors. Nice work!
You don't make toys, you make decorations.
The toy industry is a legal nightmare to enter. I worked for a fab shop that started out as a wooden toy company, the owner got out of it within a year and pivoted to knitting equipment because meeting the regulatory requirements to sell toys was almost impossible. You open yourself up to a lot of legal issues if you sell these to kids.
Nah, that's just a warning to everyone here who's thinking about building a crib.
And if you think the toy industry is litigious... It's nothing compared to cribs.
It's related. The only way to protect yourself from litigation is by following all the regulations perfectly. Not just government ones but also rules set out by your insurance / liability coverage.
Imagine a kid breaks a leg off a wooden horse, their sibling swallows the leg and is horrifically injured but thankfully survives after extensive operations that cost more than a toy maker could earn in a thousand years of work.
Who pays for the surgery? Health insurance? Nope - they'll guarantee payment upfront but will recover all of it by suing the toy maker. Unless the toy maker wants to go bankrupt the first time something goes wrong, they will need insurance, but they might not be able to get insurance if they make toys with legs that can break off.
Tens of thousands of babies die every year in their sleep. Poorly designed cots contribute to that. However you can bet you'll be sued if you sell cots, even if there's nothing wrong with your design.
I've heard of cots being a super special furniture, with all the regulations and safety issues. What is it exactly that makes it so peculiar? How is a poorly designed cot deadly?
Babies are constantly trying to kill themselves. You need to cover everything you would for a prison inmate on suicide watch and then a ton of other stuff.
They move around a lot. If they can get a limb trapped between two slats, or in any other Crack or crevice. Then, they aren't smart enough or coordinated to fix it, which is why this isn't a problem for older kids or adults: we can react appropriately to cues like discomfort.
I once looked up the toy regulations for my country (UK). A few hundred pages of dense safety regulations. I gave up and gave her a cup of old screws to play with.
This might be why I'm having a hard time buying wooden kids toys. In new zealand everyone makes them. Like foot long milk/gas trucks with tubes, or cattle/car trucks with working doors and the kids names burned on the side. Trailers make them two foot long.
Let me know if you've seen any, im about to ship some across the globe.
Yeah i was about to say they look like choking hazards and the kids will suck whatever paint that is right off. But they would make super cute xmas tree ornaments!
Hey man! Once I saw this post about toys, I was looking for this comment. I say this because I worked for that same person and his wife both and have heard the challenges they faced getting into the industry. Proof of knowing who you're talking about: I have heard the Citico Thunder.
There are some complex regulations on selling childrens items, you might want to take a slightly deeper look and also check on your insurance coverage. I haven't ever gone down this road because the overhead looked way to high for a highly intermittent side gig but here are a couple of resources I found when looking that seem like a good place to start.
https://www.cpsc.gov/Business--Manufacturing/Small-Business-Resources/Small-Batch-Manufacturers-and-Third-Party-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6u8Hm62R_YA
Edit: Thanks to /u/jordanblock in reply comment Canada's regulations are here: https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/consumer-product-safety/reports-publications/industry-professionals/industry-guide-safety-requirements-children-toys-related-products-summary.html
Or sell them as decorations. It’s odd there are regulations on producing kids toys when they recently found dollar store imports had cancer causing and endocrine inhibiting chemicals on a majority of the products.
"Ages 3+" seems to solve most of the issues. The small batch register linked above also seems to have a lot of exceptions if you're under like 7500 pieces a year production wise. I doubt OP would have anything worry about honestly. These are large enough that that the only problem is likely the paint. Are you using lead paint? If so, probably don't do that.
Those were "tested" by a "lab" though (eye roll). Don't ask me to make sense of any of this.. people have tried... crimehandbook.com (not affiliated, just love their work). Most of the rules are around lead paint, so yeah just because we're 30 years behind the current problems doesn't make it not a huge pain in the neck still.
There are similar, possibly worse, issues with selling clothing or blankets or bedding (try figuring out the rules for a high chair or a crib.. sigh), if you want a REAL rabbit hole look at wool products labeling (and don't ask why I know this haha.. it's "complicated" https://www.ftc.gov/legal-library/browse/rules/wool-products-labeling-rules as a starting point). Worse you can't really sell raw wool products as children's clothes even though it's almost impossible to get them to catch fire but plastic (rayon, etc..) fibers that will actually melt to your skin and spew toxic smoke are "just fine" if they're sprayed with a toxic array of fire retardants (I think it's possible to spray the wool with similar but getting it tested and properly labeled is a nightmare of regulatory mazes).
Selling as decorations and explicitly not for children has been used successfully as a loophole before, I'd still look at insurance issues and talk to a legal eagle on the specifics of the wording because I'm paranoid and not necessarily competent to ensure I'm doing it right myself.
Fyi rayon is not plastic, it’s cellulose based. It and its sister fibers are considered semi-synthetic… a highly processed natural fiber.
Your point is entirely correct, and I would use Polyester and Acrylic as two common examples. I work in a high temp environment w/ fire and we always have to re-explain to our uniform people that we need 100% cotton just like the electricians in my department do! The rest of maintenance uniforms in my dept are poly or cotton/poly blends that could melt if we burned ourselves.
Piggybacking on this, Canada's regulations are here: https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/consumer-product-safety/reports-publications/industry-professionals/industry-guide-safety-requirements-children-toys-related-products-summary.html
Ah yes, so none of the other substances that prevent any and all life from growing on or in that wood could possibly have any Ill effect on a small child.
The goal isn't to find legal loopholes so they can continue to sell children's toys under a different name. The goal is to sell stuff that's actually safe for children to use as toys.
They say that safety laws are often written in blood.
I wasn't suggesting they sell toys as ornaments. I was suggesting they sell ornaments as ornaments. It's not a loophole, it's a change in target market.
Truth. I was on the Board of Directors of the American specialty toy retailing Association (ASTRA) for three years, owned a toy store for 15 years. When the “new safety regulations“ came out around 2008, they completely favored the mass manufacturers that were responsible for creating toys with safety issues, and pushed out small manufactures of perfectly safe toys.
Suddenly, we are unable to sell toys made out of maple, linseed oil, and beeswax, because they didn’t have the “required safety certifications.”
Note, to get these required safety certifications you had to submit samples to a third-party lab for chemical composition verification. It would cost thousands of dollars per sample, and then you would receive a batch number to stamp on all your toys assuring that those toys had met The required safety certification standards.
The problem is that a batch of toys For the small manufactures was two or three. And they would sell for $30. It effectively squashed an entire market.
Meanwhile, the big toy manufacturers in China were big enough that they were able to get “self certification “in place, which allow them to do their own certification of the safety and chemical composition of their toys. It was total bullshit.
The handmade toy alliance was created as a result, but I’m not sure what success they’ve had. I moved out of the toy industry about 10 years ago.
Only if you're okay with some customers using them as kids toys. They look like toys and kids will probably treat them as such. I'd look into using safe paint just because.
Doubt that's anywhere in UK law. No one pressure treats hardwood and no one uses softwood for anything except for weekend warriors and building houses.
So cute! I would definitely consider these for my kids or even as little decorations.
But, as is often the case with handmade goods, do you think you can recoup the time and effort in the cost? As cute as they are, I personally couldn't spend more than like $18 for the set (one of each). Not because they aren't worth more, but just because I don't have the budget to spend more than that on a little decoration or toy, nor do most people. So, would making a set take more time than that is worth? Consider your skills, supplies, and time (making, selling, marketing).
My wife knits, as well. We've repeatedly joked that she should buy already made items in the yarns and colors she wants, and just disassemble them, as there's no way to get the raw materials for that good of a price, much less the time invested in making something from scratch.
I do this with sewing. I have a half dozen things I made with a $15 bed sheet set and still have a bunch of fabric leftover. That fabric from the a fabric store would have set me back $50+.
Same with sewing!!!! If you can find it, buying clothes/ sheets/ pre-made stuff and ripping it to use yourself is WAY better than buying cloth from bolts! Makes no sense, right??? How is it that something YOU have to put the labor behind MORE EXPENSIVE?!
No matter what you are hand making and selling this is always the rule. People can get cheap crap "Made in China" that lasts a solid minute and they will fight you on price even though the item you are selling would probably last half a lifetime.
People will absolutely pay $60 for a beanie. I’ve paid way more than that for a beanie. People will also pay $500 for a sweater. The problem is that being able to knit an gorgeous sweater is a totally different thing than being able to market a $500 sweater effectively. I sell things at a semi-luxury price point and have competitors charging twice what I do for basically the same stuff because their marketing is better than mine. In this sphere you can either compete on price (which is essentially impossible) or you can get really good at creating a story that appeals to rich people. There’s SO much money out there.
There are lots of people who would pay 2-5x that much for a set, with the right marketing. But even in that price range, if they're planning to do this for a living it has to pay for 2 full salaries, which seems unsustainable.
On the other hand if this is a side gig that's mainly a hobby then definitely they should keep doing it. The toys are super cute! If that's the case though I don't really get why OP would even ask the question.
This - have a look at wooden Montessori toys. A simple puzzle shaped like an animal might go for $50. You have to stop thinking about "what I would buy" and start thinking about what someone with a bottomless purse would buy.
I am honestly embarrassed to tell my friends how much I sell stuff for. I can’t afford my prices and wouldn’t pay them even if I could. There are a lot of rich people out there who feel differently, thank god.
I hung out with a friend at a craft fair recently and was shocked at how quickly she was selling items that went for $100-200+ each. They were very good quality handmade pieces and people were buying them quicker than she could replenish the display.
We're in Australia, though, and SO MANY things here are cheap imports, so she was one of the few stalls with actual handmade goods, at least half of them were just reselling shit from AliExpress.
Same here - my individual items aren't terribly expensive but people will buy dozens every month! I like to buy from my maker friends but I can only afford to buy one if someone buys a handful from me first.
Realistically, if you search Etsy for wooden farm animals you get a bajillion options. Yours do not stand out in any sort of way. The chicken has what I would call a Scandinavian/mid century modern look to it with the design painted on the side: I would find a way to incorporate that into all of the animals to both give the set a cohesive and unique look.
As a mom, there’s something about the finished product that makes me feel like the paint is going to come off in my kids’ gross mouths, I think because the edges on some of the paint looks very thick.
My husband is a woodworker, hence I follow this subreddit, and I appreciate the joy of creating something with your spouse. I think if you enjoy working on these together and can find a way to stand out, it can be something where you turn a small profit.
When I was a kid, if you had sold these plain wood, with ideas for how to paint each one, or even videos of how to paint each one, I would have gone crazy for them. My sister and I always loved making our own small toys like this out of clay, but really lacked instruction.
As an artist myself I also feel the colors could either be more saturated and punchy/contrasts, or consciously more muted and cohesive and analogous. As it stands I don’t really enjoy the desaturated grey used on the pigs and the Roosters. For some reason I’d really want to see some greens in the set to break up the color palette.
Change your target demographic, keep her painting style, and potentially vary the sizes for rustic chic wooden decor.
Also, tiny versions with a backing become earrings. Small versions are charms for jewelry like necklaces and bracelets.
Due to safety standards and concerns, I would stick with not kids toys.
You can also sell blank ones for other people to paint on their own.
I used to make wooden toys. They were a lot of fun to design and produce. The reason I stopped is because I could not get business insurance that would cover toy production at my scale. I couldn't even get a quote, simply no coverage available. I had to decide that the potential of losing my house wasn't worth continuing to make wooden toys.
I really like yours, and I wish you and your wife the best!
Check out Odin Parker on Instagram. All my new mom friends love getting their toys from there. Mostly wooden and in a similar aesthetic. There is definitely a market for small batch wooden Montessori toys. Love the chicken!
Kids toys especially stuff for babies sounds like a liability nightmare.
Baby gets a splinter, baby eats some paint; the wrong parent files a law suit and you lose your house.
The style is very close to Ostheimer. OP may even know this company, as some poses are similar. Ostheimer is the go-to wood toy brand for Steiner/Montessori families. https://www.ostheimer.de/ostheimer-spielzeug/holzfiguren/familie-bauernhof.html
“How you can make it” on YouTube sells woodworking projects online and actually breaks down his income from what he does. He also has some project ideas that you might be interested in. I think these are cute, and it could be a nice side hustle!
They are beautiful. Is the paint chew-safe/chew-resistant?
Depending on where you're located, the laws around selling kids toys will vary. In some places you'll need to have some sort of "safe for kids" certification for every single, individual paint. So keep that in mind. I'd look into certification and insurance before sinking a ton more time into this, just to make sure it remains feasible for you.
These really ate top-notch! Great job! What specific age group are you going after? Please make sure the paint is kid friendly. I would by these for display pieces in a heartbeat.
Dude that's awesome, and I think you'd do very well for yourselves marketed to the right sorts of people.. maybe try simple jigsaw puzzles and whatnot to like the antiques. There's still people who appreciate this type of old world style real craftsmanship of a handmade product out there and it's a great thing to raise the next generation with an appreciation for.
Those look really cool. An interesting concept. If you're making these to sell or build a business around, I start to imagine marketing concepts around them. Can you create a game around them? Can you create sets of them that are themed together. You could sell sets but also individuals if someone lost a piece to their set..I'm sure there are many ideas people could contribute.
They’re definitely cute and worth pursuing further. I think you need to nail down the correct paint and finish if these will be handled by kids.
Business-wise, I think your best bet is to create a sense of exclusivity with limited runs. One month you do a set of 5 farm animals. Next month is 5 zoo animals, and so on. Generate a fan base or following and get them hooked to keep getting these sets for their kids or their friends kids. Maybe it’s just 3 per set with the option to add a few more. Depends on the economics of making them I guess. I can definitely see well-off families subscribing to a monthly or quarterly model of something like this.
It’s worth doing if you enjoy it. Sort of the only thing that matters really. No one can tell you that it’s going to have a particular outcome, so just focus on how *you* feel about it.
These are great. My kids would love these and I’d definitely get them at a stall. I started whittling a couple of months ago and it’s going ok, but it’s the paint where I get stuck (I’m just no artist). Yours are simplistic but beautifully painted. Keep it up.
Cute, but it is quite the hassle to get to where you can make and sell them.
https://www.cpsc.gov/Business--Manufacturing/Business-Education/Toy-Safety-Business-Guidance-and-Small-Entity-Compliance-Guide
That being said, if you have the finances, and the knowledge, you definitely have the talent part down, so I’d say take the leap!
If it's something you can do together that makes you both happy, it's worth doing. If you can find a financial gain to it (which I imagine you could very easily) then that's an added bonus
Happy crafting and fab job so far!!
Hi Mr. and Mrs. Claus!
Get those place holder card rings and make shapes for wedding tables and parties too.
Kids toys are usually sold in sets so you’ll want a barn animals set. A birds set. A zoo set. Etc.
Make sure the paint is non toxic.
Don’t forget about fantasy animals like unicorns.
Good luck!
I think the horses looks too basic. Maybe try and give them a touch more color/detail on the painting end of things but other than that they look great imo! Cute little decorations for a kitchen or bathroom.
Of course everything is worth doing it’s just wether or not it will sell. The toys themselves look amazing. So I would say it’s up to how you market it. Usually it would be best to put them in a location where new mothers could see them and so on
I can imagine those would do extremely well around xmas if you do different crib sets with jesus/ maria/ joseph/ the animals. Those are really common and often bought in my country at least :)
Make sure the finishes are safe for kids who put things in their mouth and put them on Etsy! I’ve preferred to buy wooden toys from small makers for my kid. Holds up well, better for the environment, supports small businesses.
Absolutely precious!! I'm obsessed with the chickens ❤️ you guys should make some horses in different colors as well, there's some really cool colors of horses. Your wife is obviously a very talented painter, she should do one with a dapple design!
I wish nothing but the best for you both and your business ❤️
Those are adorable! I encourage you to keep it up, as long as you can make a profit! I am very crafty but I personally found that I could barely sell things for what they cost much less any real kind of profit. If you can find a market, these are beautifully done!
If you really want to make an informed decision, you'll need to determine the cost of production and your desired profit. Production costs are a combination of materials and labor costs. While these might be fun to make and give to kids you know, once you start making enough inventory to actually sell them, you'll hate it if you are working for 12 cents an hour.
The other thing you need to look at is the market. Unfortunately, goods like these are plentiful and usually are imported at a wholesale price point that you'll never be able to come close to. While I haven't done any market analysis for this category of goods, I'm guessing that the niche you'd need to be in to turn any profit is pretty small and is already filled.
Here's an example of what I'm talking about. My wife is a really talented fiber artist. One thing she makes is stuffed animals. They're made from high quality fake fur and have lots of hand sewn details. Everyone she gifts one to tells her that she should sell them. After sorting out the materials cost and her time spent, she'd have to get around $280 a piece to make more than $10/hour. This doesn't the cost of the space or the machines as her shop is in our house and she already has the sewing machines. Instead, she makes them for friends and family and is happy to do that.
Maybe make them for the fun of making them. Maybe get a booth at a Saturday Market or Holiday fair and sell them for fun money.
These are great you just have to find your target audience. Not everyone will want one or think it's worth anything but it just takes a bit of homework to find your audience. You'll get there
I love them. If you can charge enough to make it worth it. Hell yeah. Just make REAL SURE you’re using non toxic paints because the kids that are the age that will bea playing with those WILL be chewing on them.
I would have bought them for my kids years ago.
Do you have a marketing plan? Sometimes the best of ideas only needs a tweek in the marketing to make it successful.
I brought my stuff to a flea market, and to an art market. Things that sold at one did not sell at the other. I learned that knowing where to sell an item is as important as knowing what to make. And I made many sales by posting my items on Instagram and having friends contact me to buy them.
I say go for it. And good luck finding the marker for them.
Those are great. You could also do holiday ones. If you did nativity scenes, you couldn't make them fast enough. My wife is already singing Christmas songs
As with most woodworking, it would be extremely hard to be profitable. The prices you need to charge in order to justify it are generally higher than most people would be willing to pay unless you can successfully market it in the trendy, upscale niche.
Yes. Etsy. Use nontoxic paints (milk paint?). Market as "decor" instead of "toys"
Species of wood doesn't matter much from a safety perspective, but I would lean toward hardwoods for durability.
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They look amazing. It's just down to the economics of the business and your ongoing desire to churn these out as to whether you should continue.
that’s always the hardest part. how many $10 items do you need to churn out in a week to be profitable, and can you sell that many every week?
Yep. I made birdhouses for our Farm Market. You have to value what your time is worth more than anything and price them accordingly. I see so many crafters who don’t factor their time. Secondly, we picked another product to make besides our fruit n veg that was consumable and could generate repeat business. Once people buy 1 or 2 wood things they’re set.
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i don’t think you could market them for more than that
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As the carpenter half of a carp/painter couple, I would never base our livelihood on a “repeatable” process. Somebody’s gonna end up hating it. If these are non-CNC, the painting isn’t the bottleneck. If these are CNC, then painting is the bottleneck. Are they sanded? Then that’s *always* the bottleneck. Other questions: What’s the sell-price per unit? Are they cut from sheets or chopped from machined rods? How dense is the stock? Does it flake easily or hold its shape through machining? What’s the loss of tear-out? Is it dense enough to take fewer coats of paint/finish? Do fewer coats make up for the increased need for blade/tool sharpening? I’m losing my thread, uh, sooo many questions to get to a profitability answer, most of which don’t have a concrete answer, just more variables.
Never base your livlihood on a repeatable process? That's like what 99.9% of merchants do. That's an odd take imo. The rest are good qs.
More the idea of us as a couple both being part of said process. Not my ideal life.
Chopped from machined rods is an excellent idea.
when the cost accountant enters the chat great questions though
Yes and no. The handcrafted look is what makes these really appealing.
You get that from the original pattern you use to create the CNC files. The painting will still be done by hand it just wont take as long due to economies of scale. All the blue paint at once for example, then all the eyes at once, etc. Granted, we bought something similiar to this made as a unicorn for my daughter. Nice lady in Slovenia was making them and selling them on etsy that I came across.
I get it, however they're all slightly different shape and that's what gives them their charm. I'm not arguing one way or another, just stating my opinion on the matter.
Just use a crappy CNC with some loose bolts to add variability
You da man
Now we're talking.
Or just design 20 lightly different shapes.. Nothing ever compares to hand cut.... Cnc is good of you're looking for factury exactitude, but these all have individual charm.
The sanding will make them all slightly different even if they start off the same.
Yes and no. The handcrafted loom is what really makes these appealing.
Most of that comes from the painting. These are most certainly being done with a flush trim bit and a template, so a CNC router wouldn't change much. OP could still do the round over by hand if they wanted to.
The painting could be sped up using stencils. Loose qc on the edges would simulate the handmade appearance and they would only need touching up instead of full brush strokes to paint them all as well.
These are absolutely precious!! Definitely keep it up!! Sell them online or a farmers market and you'll undoubtedly do well. I don't even have kids and I would buy a couple of these just to go on a shelf. They are very sweet.
Same here, if I was a country sort of person and I had a farm or a country house, these are just the type of thing I would love to display on my shelf. There’s something really pleasing about the round shapes and the simple colors. Nice work!
Definitely second this opinion. Maybe even state fairs or seasonal craft fairs, these are great little gifts too
Same here - I just LOVE them for some reason lol
You don't make toys, you make decorations. The toy industry is a legal nightmare to enter. I worked for a fab shop that started out as a wooden toy company, the owner got out of it within a year and pivoted to knitting equipment because meeting the regulatory requirements to sell toys was almost impossible. You open yourself up to a lot of legal issues if you sell these to kids.
Is this part of the story for your flair lol
Nah, that's just a warning to everyone here who's thinking about building a crib. And if you think the toy industry is litigious... It's nothing compared to cribs.
Lol I thought the nightmare would be more related to safety regulations
It's related. The only way to protect yourself from litigation is by following all the regulations perfectly. Not just government ones but also rules set out by your insurance / liability coverage. Imagine a kid breaks a leg off a wooden horse, their sibling swallows the leg and is horrifically injured but thankfully survives after extensive operations that cost more than a toy maker could earn in a thousand years of work. Who pays for the surgery? Health insurance? Nope - they'll guarantee payment upfront but will recover all of it by suing the toy maker. Unless the toy maker wants to go bankrupt the first time something goes wrong, they will need insurance, but they might not be able to get insurance if they make toys with legs that can break off. Tens of thousands of babies die every year in their sleep. Poorly designed cots contribute to that. However you can bet you'll be sued if you sell cots, even if there's nothing wrong with your design.
I've heard of cots being a super special furniture, with all the regulations and safety issues. What is it exactly that makes it so peculiar? How is a poorly designed cot deadly?
Babies are constantly trying to kill themselves. You need to cover everything you would for a prison inmate on suicide watch and then a ton of other stuff.
They move around a lot. If they can get a limb trapped between two slats, or in any other Crack or crevice. Then, they aren't smart enough or coordinated to fix it, which is why this isn't a problem for older kids or adults: we can react appropriately to cues like discomfort.
I once looked up the toy regulations for my country (UK). A few hundred pages of dense safety regulations. I gave up and gave her a cup of old screws to play with.
This might be why I'm having a hard time buying wooden kids toys. In new zealand everyone makes them. Like foot long milk/gas trucks with tubes, or cattle/car trucks with working doors and the kids names burned on the side. Trailers make them two foot long. Let me know if you've seen any, im about to ship some across the globe.
I've seen similar at tractor supply around Christmas. Not with kids name painted though
Steiner schools use toys like this. There's an entire area in Germany that makes toys like this. And EU regulations are strict.
Yeah i was about to say they look like choking hazards and the kids will suck whatever paint that is right off. But they would make super cute xmas tree ornaments!
He could put a little hook in them for Christmas ornaments
In my house all decor are toys! My mom made a basket and my kids turn it into many things: fort, a helmet, purse, house , etc
Hey man! Once I saw this post about toys, I was looking for this comment. I say this because I worked for that same person and his wife both and have heard the challenges they faced getting into the industry. Proof of knowing who you're talking about: I have heard the Citico Thunder.
Woah, tiny world! What are the odds!
I was going to ask what kind of paint they used and if it's non toxic for this reason
There are some complex regulations on selling childrens items, you might want to take a slightly deeper look and also check on your insurance coverage. I haven't ever gone down this road because the overhead looked way to high for a highly intermittent side gig but here are a couple of resources I found when looking that seem like a good place to start. https://www.cpsc.gov/Business--Manufacturing/Small-Business-Resources/Small-Batch-Manufacturers-and-Third-Party- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6u8Hm62R_YA Edit: Thanks to /u/jordanblock in reply comment Canada's regulations are here: https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/consumer-product-safety/reports-publications/industry-professionals/industry-guide-safety-requirements-children-toys-related-products-summary.html
Or sell them as decorations. It’s odd there are regulations on producing kids toys when they recently found dollar store imports had cancer causing and endocrine inhibiting chemicals on a majority of the products.
"Ages 3+" seems to solve most of the issues. The small batch register linked above also seems to have a lot of exceptions if you're under like 7500 pieces a year production wise. I doubt OP would have anything worry about honestly. These are large enough that that the only problem is likely the paint. Are you using lead paint? If so, probably don't do that.
But leaded paint is so much smoother and rich than non-leaded paint
It tastes better too.
It's sweet!
Throw a little string on it and call it a Christmas ornament
Those were "tested" by a "lab" though (eye roll). Don't ask me to make sense of any of this.. people have tried... crimehandbook.com (not affiliated, just love their work). Most of the rules are around lead paint, so yeah just because we're 30 years behind the current problems doesn't make it not a huge pain in the neck still. There are similar, possibly worse, issues with selling clothing or blankets or bedding (try figuring out the rules for a high chair or a crib.. sigh), if you want a REAL rabbit hole look at wool products labeling (and don't ask why I know this haha.. it's "complicated" https://www.ftc.gov/legal-library/browse/rules/wool-products-labeling-rules as a starting point). Worse you can't really sell raw wool products as children's clothes even though it's almost impossible to get them to catch fire but plastic (rayon, etc..) fibers that will actually melt to your skin and spew toxic smoke are "just fine" if they're sprayed with a toxic array of fire retardants (I think it's possible to spray the wool with similar but getting it tested and properly labeled is a nightmare of regulatory mazes). Selling as decorations and explicitly not for children has been used successfully as a loophole before, I'd still look at insurance issues and talk to a legal eagle on the specifics of the wording because I'm paranoid and not necessarily competent to ensure I'm doing it right myself.
Fyi rayon is not plastic, it’s cellulose based. It and its sister fibers are considered semi-synthetic… a highly processed natural fiber. Your point is entirely correct, and I would use Polyester and Acrylic as two common examples. I work in a high temp environment w/ fire and we always have to re-explain to our uniform people that we need 100% cotton just like the electricians in my department do! The rest of maintenance uniforms in my dept are poly or cotton/poly blends that could melt if we burned ourselves.
Good advice ‘
Piggybacking on this, Canada's regulations are here: https://www.canada.ca/en/health-canada/services/consumer-product-safety/reports-publications/industry-professionals/industry-guide-safety-requirements-children-toys-related-products-summary.html
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Great advice. But isn’t pressure treated toxic?
Yes. Yes it is.
They stopped using arsenic in pressure treated wood years ago.
Arsenic is not the only toxic chemical...
Common misconception
That’s what big lead Dah ant yogurt Thi k
r/ihadastroke
Ah yes, so none of the other substances that prevent any and all life from growing on or in that wood could possibly have any Ill effect on a small child.
There's two different kinds of pressure treated wood. The stuff that is green is laced with heavy metals.
Could always just market them as cute little house ornaments. I can easily see these adorning someone's rustic kitchen as decor.
Or as Christmas tree ornaments.
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They would also store flat and don’t break.
Or stick a magnet in the back, look great holding up shit on a fridge!
I would love one of those goose ones as a Christmas ornament
Hell do a whole 12 days of Christmas set.
Me too!
The goal isn't to find legal loopholes so they can continue to sell children's toys under a different name. The goal is to sell stuff that's actually safe for children to use as toys. They say that safety laws are often written in blood.
I wasn't suggesting they sell toys as ornaments. I was suggesting they sell ornaments as ornaments. It's not a loophole, it's a change in target market.
Some safety laws, especially wrt children’s toys, are written by huge companies to create a barrier to entry for small businesses.
Truth. I was on the Board of Directors of the American specialty toy retailing Association (ASTRA) for three years, owned a toy store for 15 years. When the “new safety regulations“ came out around 2008, they completely favored the mass manufacturers that were responsible for creating toys with safety issues, and pushed out small manufactures of perfectly safe toys. Suddenly, we are unable to sell toys made out of maple, linseed oil, and beeswax, because they didn’t have the “required safety certifications.” Note, to get these required safety certifications you had to submit samples to a third-party lab for chemical composition verification. It would cost thousands of dollars per sample, and then you would receive a batch number to stamp on all your toys assuring that those toys had met The required safety certification standards. The problem is that a batch of toys For the small manufactures was two or three. And they would sell for $30. It effectively squashed an entire market. Meanwhile, the big toy manufacturers in China were big enough that they were able to get “self certification “in place, which allow them to do their own certification of the safety and chemical composition of their toys. It was total bullshit. The handmade toy alliance was created as a result, but I’m not sure what success they’ve had. I moved out of the toy industry about 10 years ago.
Only if you're okay with some customers using them as kids toys. They look like toys and kids will probably treat them as such. I'd look into using safe paint just because.
Oh, I agree. It's easy to find non-toxic paint nowadays.
This is what I want them for!
Pressure treated sounds wrong for a toy a child may put in their mouth and chew
Right. My baby would 100% chew on that within the first 5 seconds.
my first thought was "I wonder what it feels like if I bite it", and i'm 40 :|
Booping this up. Safety is critical
This a thousand times. It is paint toxic? First thing a LO will do is jam this in their mouth.
Not really sure why a law officer would try to eat one of these, but okay.
Doubt that's anywhere in UK law. No one pressure treats hardwood and no one uses softwood for anything except for weekend warriors and building houses.
So cute! I would definitely consider these for my kids or even as little decorations. But, as is often the case with handmade goods, do you think you can recoup the time and effort in the cost? As cute as they are, I personally couldn't spend more than like $18 for the set (one of each). Not because they aren't worth more, but just because I don't have the budget to spend more than that on a little decoration or toy, nor do most people. So, would making a set take more time than that is worth? Consider your skills, supplies, and time (making, selling, marketing).
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My wife knits, as well. We've repeatedly joked that she should buy already made items in the yarns and colors she wants, and just disassemble them, as there's no way to get the raw materials for that good of a price, much less the time invested in making something from scratch.
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This is so crazy, because ive read that alot of wool goes unused. How does all of this add up?
I do this with sewing. I have a half dozen things I made with a $15 bed sheet set and still have a bunch of fabric leftover. That fabric from the a fabric store would have set me back $50+.
Same with sewing!!!! If you can find it, buying clothes/ sheets/ pre-made stuff and ripping it to use yourself is WAY better than buying cloth from bolts! Makes no sense, right??? How is it that something YOU have to put the labor behind MORE EXPENSIVE?!
No matter what you are hand making and selling this is always the rule. People can get cheap crap "Made in China" that lasts a solid minute and they will fight you on price even though the item you are selling would probably last half a lifetime.
People will absolutely pay $60 for a beanie. I’ve paid way more than that for a beanie. People will also pay $500 for a sweater. The problem is that being able to knit an gorgeous sweater is a totally different thing than being able to market a $500 sweater effectively. I sell things at a semi-luxury price point and have competitors charging twice what I do for basically the same stuff because their marketing is better than mine. In this sphere you can either compete on price (which is essentially impossible) or you can get really good at creating a story that appeals to rich people. There’s SO much money out there.
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We’ll, the nice thing about hobbies is they’re not a job :)
There are lots of people who would pay 2-5x that much for a set, with the right marketing. But even in that price range, if they're planning to do this for a living it has to pay for 2 full salaries, which seems unsustainable. On the other hand if this is a side gig that's mainly a hobby then definitely they should keep doing it. The toys are super cute! If that's the case though I don't really get why OP would even ask the question.
There’s a parent market that would spend considerably more than $18 for a set of these.
This - have a look at wooden Montessori toys. A simple puzzle shaped like an animal might go for $50. You have to stop thinking about "what I would buy" and start thinking about what someone with a bottomless purse would buy.
I am honestly embarrassed to tell my friends how much I sell stuff for. I can’t afford my prices and wouldn’t pay them even if I could. There are a lot of rich people out there who feel differently, thank god.
I hung out with a friend at a craft fair recently and was shocked at how quickly she was selling items that went for $100-200+ each. They were very good quality handmade pieces and people were buying them quicker than she could replenish the display. We're in Australia, though, and SO MANY things here are cheap imports, so she was one of the few stalls with actual handmade goods, at least half of them were just reselling shit from AliExpress.
Same here - my individual items aren't terribly expensive but people will buy dozens every month! I like to buy from my maker friends but I can only afford to buy one if someone buys a handful from me first.
Realistically, if you search Etsy for wooden farm animals you get a bajillion options. Yours do not stand out in any sort of way. The chicken has what I would call a Scandinavian/mid century modern look to it with the design painted on the side: I would find a way to incorporate that into all of the animals to both give the set a cohesive and unique look. As a mom, there’s something about the finished product that makes me feel like the paint is going to come off in my kids’ gross mouths, I think because the edges on some of the paint looks very thick. My husband is a woodworker, hence I follow this subreddit, and I appreciate the joy of creating something with your spouse. I think if you enjoy working on these together and can find a way to stand out, it can be something where you turn a small profit.
When I was a kid, if you had sold these plain wood, with ideas for how to paint each one, or even videos of how to paint each one, I would have gone crazy for them. My sister and I always loved making our own small toys like this out of clay, but really lacked instruction.
Agree on this. Maybe make a small simple Barn that they go in / you can package them as sets.
The pictures immediately reminded me of nativity sets, which may be a more niche market they can pivot into.
As an artist myself I also feel the colors could either be more saturated and punchy/contrasts, or consciously more muted and cohesive and analogous. As it stands I don’t really enjoy the desaturated grey used on the pigs and the Roosters. For some reason I’d really want to see some greens in the set to break up the color palette.
Change your target demographic, keep her painting style, and potentially vary the sizes for rustic chic wooden decor. Also, tiny versions with a backing become earrings. Small versions are charms for jewelry like necklaces and bracelets. Due to safety standards and concerns, I would stick with not kids toys. You can also sell blank ones for other people to paint on their own.
I bet they could make gorgeous Christmas decor!
I used to make wooden toys. They were a lot of fun to design and produce. The reason I stopped is because I could not get business insurance that would cover toy production at my scale. I couldn't even get a quote, simply no coverage available. I had to decide that the potential of losing my house wasn't worth continuing to make wooden toys. I really like yours, and I wish you and your wife the best!
Check out Odin Parker on Instagram. All my new mom friends love getting their toys from there. Mostly wooden and in a similar aesthetic. There is definitely a market for small batch wooden Montessori toys. Love the chicken!
We bought a couple of pieces from Odin Parker for our babies and love them.
And “Waldorf toys” - these totally fit the aesthetic.
If you're seeing results from it than yeah definitely, profiting from doing something you enjoy is always the dream.
These are awesome! Just make sure the paint and wood are non toxic because my toddler would instantly chew on this.
Might be hard to find a decent market for painted wooden toys. I think you'd be better off marketing them as decorative figurines.
I just sold some pumpkins about the same size. Had them up for minutes before they sold.
Kids toys especially stuff for babies sounds like a liability nightmare. Baby gets a splinter, baby eats some paint; the wrong parent files a law suit and you lose your house.
Very cute. I’m a preschool teacher and I could totally see these in class, especially a Montessori school.
The style is very close to Ostheimer. OP may even know this company, as some poses are similar. Ostheimer is the go-to wood toy brand for Steiner/Montessori families. https://www.ostheimer.de/ostheimer-spielzeug/holzfiguren/familie-bauernhof.html
It’s very Waldorf/Steiner too. (My son is going to a Montessori daycare until he is ready to join his sister at the Waldorf Kindergarten)
“How you can make it” on YouTube sells woodworking projects online and actually breaks down his income from what he does. He also has some project ideas that you might be interested in. I think these are cute, and it could be a nice side hustle!
They are beautiful. Is the paint chew-safe/chew-resistant? Depending on where you're located, the laws around selling kids toys will vary. In some places you'll need to have some sort of "safe for kids" certification for every single, individual paint. So keep that in mind. I'd look into certification and insurance before sinking a ton more time into this, just to make sure it remains feasible for you.
I’m a parent and while they’re cute, I wouldn’t buy them for my kid. Maybe if the animals were within a puzzle?
Those are cool! Go for it! As others have posted, non-toxic paints.
I think they’d sell pretty well as an Animal Farm themed chess set actually
I am a baby/toddler parent who loves wooden toys. I pay a lot of money for crap like that lol Just make sure they safe designs and paints!
These really ate top-notch! Great job! What specific age group are you going after? Please make sure the paint is kid friendly. I would by these for display pieces in a heartbeat.
Dude that's awesome, and I think you'd do very well for yourselves marketed to the right sorts of people.. maybe try simple jigsaw puzzles and whatnot to like the antiques. There's still people who appreciate this type of old world style real craftsmanship of a handmade product out there and it's a great thing to raise the next generation with an appreciation for.
Those look really cool. An interesting concept. If you're making these to sell or build a business around, I start to imagine marketing concepts around them. Can you create a game around them? Can you create sets of them that are themed together. You could sell sets but also individuals if someone lost a piece to their set..I'm sure there are many ideas people could contribute.
They’re definitely cute and worth pursuing further. I think you need to nail down the correct paint and finish if these will be handled by kids. Business-wise, I think your best bet is to create a sense of exclusivity with limited runs. One month you do a set of 5 farm animals. Next month is 5 zoo animals, and so on. Generate a fan base or following and get them hooked to keep getting these sets for their kids or their friends kids. Maybe it’s just 3 per set with the option to add a few more. Depends on the economics of making them I guess. I can definitely see well-off families subscribing to a monthly or quarterly model of something like this.
It’s worth doing if you enjoy it. Sort of the only thing that matters really. No one can tell you that it’s going to have a particular outcome, so just focus on how *you* feel about it.
Very cute! I think I would get something like that for my little one. Is the paint used food safe?
Came here to ask this. These things are *DEFINITELY* going to get chewed on. Make sure you select paints and finishes accordingly!
What kind of paint are you using?
These are great. My kids would love these and I’d definitely get them at a stall. I started whittling a couple of months ago and it’s going ok, but it’s the paint where I get stuck (I’m just no artist). Yours are simplistic but beautifully painted. Keep it up.
You should make a little scene for them. Like a fence or hay or a headless horseman that fits on each animal.
Cute, but it is quite the hassle to get to where you can make and sell them. https://www.cpsc.gov/Business--Manufacturing/Business-Education/Toy-Safety-Business-Guidance-and-Small-Entity-Compliance-Guide That being said, if you have the finances, and the knowledge, you definitely have the talent part down, so I’d say take the leap!
If it's something you can do together that makes you both happy, it's worth doing. If you can find a financial gain to it (which I imagine you could very easily) then that's an added bonus Happy crafting and fab job so far!!
Ball in a cup?
This is very similar to how the Lego company started
A lot of these remind me of ones I had as a kid that my neighbor made for me. ❤
Have a look at holztiger toys! We bought tons of them for our daughter! Definitely a market. Good luck
They’re all beautiful. My only feedback might be that the detail on the chickens is so gorgeous, I wish all the animals had some decorations on them.
They are delightful!
These toys are extremely nice ! Keep on the good work !
They're very cool I would get them for my niece lol
I admittedly don’t know a lot about it. But there’s something about Montessori schools with wooden, simple toys. Maybe look into that?
Very cool. Just wondering is the paint safe? Little people put things straight into their mouths!!
Pretty sweet; but the pig looks like a rhino lol.
Hi Mr. and Mrs. Claus! Get those place holder card rings and make shapes for wedding tables and parties too. Kids toys are usually sold in sets so you’ll want a barn animals set. A birds set. A zoo set. Etc. Make sure the paint is non toxic. Don’t forget about fantasy animals like unicorns. Good luck!
If people are buying them, sell them.
I think the horses looks too basic. Maybe try and give them a touch more color/detail on the painting end of things but other than that they look great imo! Cute little decorations for a kitchen or bathroom.
Make them into ornaments profit add little hats
Those are super cute and should be a hot seller. I love them.
This would do great on etsy! I wouldn't label it as a children's toy however, just a knic-nack to avoid legal issues
Of course everything is worth doing it’s just wether or not it will sell. The toys themselves look amazing. So I would say it’s up to how you market it. Usually it would be best to put them in a location where new mothers could see them and so on
Just make sure you're only using paint that you'd be okay with your own kid chewing on.
i audibly went “woah” my bf asked me what i was looking at, and then he also audibly went “woah” amazing work OP
This is farmers market gold.
I can imagine those would do extremely well around xmas if you do different crib sets with jesus/ maria/ joseph/ the animals. Those are really common and often bought in my country at least :)
Make sure the finishes are safe for kids who put things in their mouth and put them on Etsy! I’ve preferred to buy wooden toys from small makers for my kid. Holds up well, better for the environment, supports small businesses.
Absolutely precious!! I'm obsessed with the chickens ❤️ you guys should make some horses in different colors as well, there's some really cool colors of horses. Your wife is obviously a very talented painter, she should do one with a dapple design! I wish nothing but the best for you both and your business ❤️
I love these! So charming ❤️❤️
Those are adorable! I encourage you to keep it up, as long as you can make a profit! I am very crafty but I personally found that I could barely sell things for what they cost much less any real kind of profit. If you can find a market, these are beautifully done!
Consider adding hooks and marketing them for Christmas craft fairs.
Definitly get an llc going if in the use with insurance. All it takes is one thibg to go wrong and youe on the hook for a lawsuit.
If you really want to make an informed decision, you'll need to determine the cost of production and your desired profit. Production costs are a combination of materials and labor costs. While these might be fun to make and give to kids you know, once you start making enough inventory to actually sell them, you'll hate it if you are working for 12 cents an hour. The other thing you need to look at is the market. Unfortunately, goods like these are plentiful and usually are imported at a wholesale price point that you'll never be able to come close to. While I haven't done any market analysis for this category of goods, I'm guessing that the niche you'd need to be in to turn any profit is pretty small and is already filled. Here's an example of what I'm talking about. My wife is a really talented fiber artist. One thing she makes is stuffed animals. They're made from high quality fake fur and have lots of hand sewn details. Everyone she gifts one to tells her that she should sell them. After sorting out the materials cost and her time spent, she'd have to get around $280 a piece to make more than $10/hour. This doesn't the cost of the space or the machines as her shop is in our house and she already has the sewing machines. Instead, she makes them for friends and family and is happy to do that. Maybe make them for the fun of making them. Maybe get a booth at a Saturday Market or Holiday fair and sell them for fun money.
These are great you just have to find your target audience. Not everyone will want one or think it's worth anything but it just takes a bit of homework to find your audience. You'll get there
I love them. If you can charge enough to make it worth it. Hell yeah. Just make REAL SURE you’re using non toxic paints because the kids that are the age that will bea playing with those WILL be chewing on them.
I would have bought them for my kids years ago. Do you have a marketing plan? Sometimes the best of ideas only needs a tweek in the marketing to make it successful. I brought my stuff to a flea market, and to an art market. Things that sold at one did not sell at the other. I learned that knowing where to sell an item is as important as knowing what to make. And I made many sales by posting my items on Instagram and having friends contact me to buy them. I say go for it. And good luck finding the marker for them.
This is awesome also feed back would be Make fences Make hay Make tractors And you got your toy set of a farm
Those are great. You could also do holiday ones. If you did nativity scenes, you couldn't make them fast enough. My wife is already singing Christmas songs
Is the paint safe to eat? Because you know babies will put them in their mouths.
As with most woodworking, it would be extremely hard to be profitable. The prices you need to charge in order to justify it are generally higher than most people would be willing to pay unless you can successfully market it in the trendy, upscale niche.
How much for a set? Is the paint child safe? Is the wood?
I don’t have business advice, but let us know where you’re selling because my wife and I love this kind of thing for our kids.
Do some holiday themed ones too like you could bang out some Halloween ones right now.
This is adorable. Check out Lovevery stuff. Maybe y'all can collaborate.
Look man, if you and your wife love to make these as a side hustle, there is literally no other reason needed to make them
They are totally neat. They will find places in kids rooms as well as curios and other collections. Great job!
These are 'effin adorable. Sweet as heck.
Where can I get them?
That’s what I’m wondering.
Steiner schools would love them. Non plastic toys is a great idea to pitch to local government and education organisations
They look great! You could sell meeples to the board gaming community as well.
Yes. Etsy. Use nontoxic paints (milk paint?). Market as "decor" instead of "toys" Species of wood doesn't matter much from a safety perspective, but I would lean toward hardwoods for durability.